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LIFE
THURSDAY, January 5, 2006
Religion 8B
Section
New drug
better to
fight breast
caneer
WE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Women now have another
drug they can take to prevent
breast cancer fix)m returning
after surgery to remove the
tumor.
The federal Food and Drug
Administration on Wednesday
approved a new use for Femara,
a medication already licensed for
treating advanced breast cancer.
It now can be given as initial
therapy to women past
menopause who have early
breast cancer, the agency said.
In Thursday’s New England
Journal of Medicine, a study
reports that Femara was more
effective at preventing recur
rences than the current gold
standard, tamoxifen.
Femara and Arimidex, a simi
lar drug already licensed for
early breast cancer, are aro-
matase inhibitors, which block
production of estrogen, a hor
mone that fuels tlie growth of
most tumors that develop after
menopause. Tamoxifen works
differently, by blunting the abili
ty of estrogen to enter cells.
The published stiwiy reported
earlier this year in Europe, esti
mated that 84 percent of women
given Femara versus 81 percent
of those on tamoxifen wovild be
alive without any signs of cancer
five years after starting treat
ment.
The estimates were based on
roughly two years of information
on relapses among the 8,000
women in the study, done by
researchers in the United
States, Europe and Australia.
It was financed by Femara’s
maker, Novartis AG. Many of
^ the.re^a^xhersjjwn..stock in or
^ are consultants for Novartis or
companies with rival drugs.
Several other studies have
shown Femara or Arimidex to be
better either as initial treatment
or after a couple years of tamox
ifen.
“These trials, with close to
30,000 participants, consistently
demonstrate that treatment
with an aromatase inhibitor
alone or after tamoxifen treat
ment is beneficial,” Dr. Sandra
Swain of the National Cancer
Institute wrote in an editorial in
the journal.
The diallenge now is figuring
out how long women should take
these drugs, which drug is best,
and whether switching drugs at
some point is helpful, she wrote.
Tamoxifen remains the top
choice for women who get breast
cancer before menopause
because aromatase inhibitors
aren’t thought to be effective
then.
Aromatase inhibitors do not
raise the risk of Hood clots or
endometrial cancer as tamoxifen
does, but they do increase the
chances of bone problems such
as osteoporosis. Women are
often advised to take supple
ments or other medications to
maintain bone density
A third aromatase inhibitor,
Pfizer Inc.’s Aromasin, also has
shown promise for preventing
recurrence when given after sev
eral years of tamoxifen But it
has not yet been tested against
tamoxifen as initial therapy the
way Femara and AstraZeneca
PIXTs Arimidex have been
Each year, about 800,000
women around the world are
diagnosed with early breast can
cer and about three-fourths are
of the type that might benefit
fium these drugs.
Novartis shares gained 32
cents to close at $52.12
Wednesday on the New York
Stock Exchange.
mmo
THE STOCK KdARKET
Role reversals
Older women are now more open to seeking younger men
PHOTO/STOCKMARKET
New research shows that women are no more monogamous than men, especially as they age.
By Cheris F. Hodges
cherts Jwdgestfl thecharlotlepostjcom
For years, men have
been painted as the most
unfaithful gender.
But a recent book blows
the lid off a secret that
many women don’t talk
about-their own infidelity
In the book ‘Women’s
Infidelity-Living in
Limbo: What Women
Really Mean Wh^ They
Say ‘I’m Not Happy,”’
author Michelle Lan^ey
explores the hidden sexu^-
al nature of women.
“Most of the prevailing
beliefs we hold about
women were created in
order to control the sexual
behavior of women,” she
said. “Over time the secu-
al double standard gave
way to a false belief that
females were naturally
monogamous.”
In the 10 years that it
took Langley to put her
research together, she
found that women cheat
as much as men.
‘Women are too easy to
blame infidelity on men
and consider thanselves
victims,” she said.
But when women reach
a certain age, they enter
their sexual prime,
Langley said. When
women are in their mid-
to late 20s, they are just
moving into their sexual
prime, which is why many
are dating and sleeping
with younger men.
‘Wlien I started inter
viewing men I was
amazed at how many men
were seduced by an older
woman,” she said, recall
ing one man’s admission
that he was 13 years old
when he had sex with his
mother’s best fiiend.
The changes in women’s
hormonal balance as they
age-specifically the
unmasking of their testos
terone - have been drasti
cally minimized. Langley
said most of the women
she studied were not pre
pared for the dramatic
increase in their desire for
men outside of their pri
mary relationships.
Please see WOMEN/2B
Miss, town plans Till memorial
WEASSOCIA7ED PRESS
GREENWOOD, Miss.— County
offiddfc have agreed to place a his
torical memorial to Emmett Till on a
courthouse lawn in this northern
Mississippi town.
TUI, a 14-year-old black boy fium
Chicago, was visiting relatives in
Mississippi when he was tortured
and killed for allegedly whistling at a
white woman in 1955. An all-white
jury acquitted Roy Bryant and his
half brother J.W. Milam in the
killing. They later admitted in a
magazine story they kidnapped and
lynched Till, allegedly for whistling
at Bryant’s wife. Bryant and Milam
have since died.
The U.S. Justice Department
reopened the case la^ year, prompt
ed in part by a documentary that
found errors in the original investi
gation and concluded that several
people, some stiU living, were
involved in Till’s abduction and
killing.
The FBI says it has completed its
investigation and its files were to be
I delivered to District
Attorney Joyre Chiles
of Greenville, who has
said when she receives
it she will decide
whether to have a
grand jury consider
indictments.
Leflore County
Chancery Cleik Sam Abraham said
supervisors approved the marker
but have not decided where the
marker or monument will be located
on the courthouse grounds. Funding
of the memorial wasn’t discnissed, he
said. The construction of a memorial
is subject to state and federal guide
lines because the courthouse in on
the National Register of Historic
Places, Abraham said.
The Rev. Calvin ColUns of New
Zion Missionary Baptist Church said
local resid^ts had asked supervi
sors for the memorial.
“(TUI) wa? a spark for the dvil
rights movement, one of the spaiks,
in this country,” Collins said.
Collins said people fiom across the
country are retracing the dvil rights
struggles of the 1950s and 1960s and
that Greenwood and Leflore (Ik)imty
are prominent players in that story
Have you been tested for glaueoma lately?
By Cheris F. Hodges
cheris Jwdgest&lhechariottepo.'nrom
Januar>' is Glaucoma
Awareness Month And for
Afiican Americans, the
disease is damning.
The most common form
of glaucoma, called open
an^e ^aucoma, accounts
for 19 percent of all blind
ness in blacks, compared
to 6 percOTt in whites
Afiican Americans
between the ages of 45 to
65 are 14 times more like
ly to lose their eyesight to
^aucoma.
What is ^aucoma?
It’s poor drainage of the
eye. The disoirio* doesn’t
have any warning symp
toms.
‘Tn a healthy eye, fluid is
constantly being made
and drained through a
microscopic, drainage
canal. When something
blocks or prevents this
natural drainage, the
pressure inside the eye
goes up. (^auccHna is often
caused by increased pres
sure that can develop
when the fluids in the eye
are not draining properly”
according to the American
Academy of
Ophihaimology
As the disease progress
es, a person with glauco
ma may notice his or her
side vision gradually fail
ing. That is, objects in
fiunt may still be seen
cleariy but objects to the
side maybe missed. As the
disease worsens, the field
of vision narrows and
blindness results.
In a study conducted by
the American Academy of
Ophthalmology, when
blacks used eye drops it
reduced the development
of primary open-an^e
glaucoma by almost 50
percent. Just 8.4 percent
of Afiican-Americans who
used the eye drops devel
oped glaucoma, compared
with 16.1 percent of those
who did not receive the
eye drops, researchers
report.
The findings indicate the
urgency of identifying
black Americans at higher
risk fca* developing glauco
ma so they can receive
evaluation for possible
treatment, the
researchers said.
In honor of Glaucoma
See GLAUCOMAySB
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/WAOE NASH
African Americans are more likeiy to lose their eyesight to glaucoma than
whites.
W
Obesity
surgery is
soaring
WE ASSOCIMED PRESS
MILWAUKEE—As more f)eo-
ple abandon New Year’s resolu
tions to lose weight and turn to
obesity surgery, doctors are
debating which type is safest and
best.
And researchers are uncover
ing some surprising trends.
The most common method in
the United States—gastric
bypass, or stomach-stapling
surgery—may be riskier than
once thought. Yet surgeons still
favor it for people who need to
lose wei^t fast because of heart
damage or other serious prob
lems.
A gentler approach favored in
Europe and Australia—an
a(^ustable stomach band— can
give long-term results that are
almofit as good and with far
fewer risks. It may be the best
option for children or women
contemplating pregnancy, and is
reversible if problems develop.
A radical operation—cutting
away part of the stomach and
rerouting the intestines—is
increasingly being recommended
for severely obese people. It gives
maximum wei^t loss but also is
the riskiest solution.
A large U.S. government study
just got under way to compare all
three options.
But regardless of which
method is used, studies show an
inescapable reality No surgery
gives lasting results unless peo
ple also change eating and exer-
dsing habits.
“The body just has many ways
of compensating, even after
something as drastic as surgery,”
said Dr. Louis Aronne;, director of
the wei^t loss program at Weill-
Cfomell Medical CfoUege.
He is president of the Obesity
Society, the laigest group of spe
cialists in bariatrics, as this field
is known. The group’s recent
annual conference in Vancouver
featured many studies on
surgery’s long-term effects.
Obesity is a problem world
wide. About 31 percent of
American adults—61 million
people—are considered obese,
with a body-mass index of 30 or
more, That’s based on height and
weight. Someone who is 5 feet, 4
inches is obese at 175 pounds
;222 pounds does it for a 6-footer.
Federal guidelines say surgery
shouldn’t be considered unless
someone has tried conventional
ways to shed pounds and is at
least 100 pounds over ideal
weight, CH* has a BMI over 40, or
a BMI over 35 plus a weigfot-
related medical problem likf> dia
betes or high blood pressure.
More people are meeting those
conditions. A decade ago, less
than 10,000 such suigeries were
done in the United States. That
ballooned to 70,000 in 2002 and
more than 170,000 in 2005, says
the American Society for
Bariatric Suigery
Doctors disagree over which is
better the most pc^nilar method,
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, or the
a(^xistable band, which is rapid
ly gaining fans. EithOT can be
done throu^ a big indsiQU, or
laparosojpically with tiny instru
ments passed through small cuts
in the abdomen.
In gastric bypass, a small
pouch is stapled off fixm the rest
of the stomach and connected to
the small intestine. People eat
less because the pouch holds lit
tle food, and they absorb fewer
calories because much of the
intestine is bypassed They must
take protein and vitamin supple
ments to prevent deficiencies.
Please see OBESTTYySB